


Infrared

by HyperKey



Series: DBH Oneshots [8]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Connor is not treated like a baby, Emetophobia, Hank is in character, Hurt/Comfort, Sickfic, Vomiting, Whump, lots of thirium
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-06-28 22:46:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15716652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HyperKey/pseuds/HyperKey
Summary: A glitch in his system causes some very unpleasant complications.This wasn't how Connor had planned for the night to go.





	1. At the end of the Story...

**Author's Note:**

> WELL....  
> this is the second of.... a BUNCH of sickfics i upload. Last one was in 2012?...  
> Anyway, here. Have dad-Hank and Sick-Connor and a bunch of gross and annoying sick stuff happening.
> 
> If you haven't read the tags: THERE will be vomiting. Read at your own risk.
> 
> Comments and feed back are always appreciated, especially with this because i am super anxious about actually uploading it because i think it's utter crap and shouldn't ever be graced with the day of light. Friends think differently, so prove me wrong.

The night was a blur. Everything was a blur. His processor struggled to work out the most basic of tasks and there was a pressure building inside him that he knew was nothing good. He couldn’t figure out where it came from or why it happened, but it was there, and he didn’t like it. His diagnostics had come back with errors regarding his thirium supply.

He had nicked a thirium line the previous day, but it was only a minor injury and his system had taken care of it. Hank hadn’t even freaked out. It was a little lower than ideal, but that could be solved easily.

So why was his system telling him now that his supply was contaminated? That was impossible. Impurities from small damage like that would have easily been filtered out.

A frown had made its way onto his face when he slowly got up. The pressure was building once he stood, something like a foreign object in his chest. He had never felt a sensation like that before. Contemplating whether he should wake Hank or try to work it out by himself, he wandered over to the kitchen and opened the cabinet next to the fridge. There was an insulated Styrofoam box filled with four bottles of thirium. It was easier to get hands on those than the bags, even though the bags contained slightly more thirium.

He figured it didn’t matter as he pulled a marked bottle out of the box. It had been opened already, that’s why hank had plastered a band-aid on the lid.

‘Use this up first’ Hank had told him.

Not that it mattered. All of this was pure thirium and opening the bottles wouldn’t immediately change that.

When he closed the cabinet and placed the bottle on the counter his vision swam for a second. That was definitely not normal. He chose to head to Hank once he had refilled the missing thirium. It was barely 1%. He would have been able to last several more days with this without any change in performance.

It was strange.

He screwed off the lid and brought the bottle to his lips. Then a sudden surge in his thirium pump and he almost let go of it.

Now he was concerned. This had never happened when he was not in a dangerous situation. It took a few seconds for it to beat steadily again and his frown deepened. The pressure had still not subsided and now his hands were shaking.

He was getting scared. None of this was supposed to happen.

The sip of thirium needed to refill the barely touched supply felt strange. It didn’t go down easily, like it was supposed to. He struggled, almost choked on it, and in turn made the fear spike.

He knew even if he choked on it, it wouldn’t harm him in any way, yet the irrational fear did not subside. Instead he felt the pressure build even more.

He screwed the lid back into the bottle and replaced it, then headed back to the couch, in hopes it would help.

He resumed his place on the furniture, pulled the blanket over him and stared into the darkness of the room. It was just past four in the morning. Hank and Sumo were soundly asleep. He closed his yes to resume the interrupted scan and found himself drifting off for a couple of minutes.

Around five he opened his eyes again. His chest felt warm, but the pressure hadn’t subsided. The thirium pump was racing now and the error about the percentage of the contaminated thirium had gone up instead of down.

That was impossible. The stored containers were pure. And yet his system decided that it wasn’t.

Slowly he sat up again, strangely off balance. As he tried to calibrate the gyroscope his chest was starting to feel as if whatever was building pressure would not stay there for much longer.

He didn’t know if that was a good thing or not.

When a strange wheeze escaped him he flinched violently, surprised at the whole jerk of his body and the strange sound he had never heard before. Had that really come from him?  His stress levels spiked. It terrified him.

Hank had told him that it was okay to wake him if something was wrong. And something really was wrong here. He assumed this needed actual outside help, since he couldn’t find the error by himself. Hank wouldn’t know how to help, but he could get him someone that was able to.

It took four attempts to get to his feet and when he finally managed to walk into the hallway he almost ran into a stack of books. It had been there for weeks, why had he forgotten that?

He clearly heard the pump in his ears and his breathing had kicked in to cool the overheating systems. That in turn made him much more aware of the pressure in his chest. It had spread further down and caused strange spasms in his abdomen. He had no idea this was actually possible.

When he had reached Hank’s door, his breath was coming in shallow gasps. Also something he had never experienced before. All of this was new, unexpected and terrifying. One of his hands found its way to the strange pressure in his chest, and the next second everything seized.

He didn’t know how his head knocked against the unforgiving wood of Hank’s bed room or when his knees hit the floor. He knew he had gripped his shirt tightly when a warning he had never seen before flashed brightly in his field of vision.

Warning: Thirium supply contaminated. Initiating purge.

For a second he wondered what that even meant, then he heard himself whine against an entirely new sensation. It felt as if something tried to crawl up through his throat and whatever it was it needed to be out of there.  He had clenched his teeth against the sensation, suddenly felt cold and completely helpless.

Then a sound akin to a gag reached his ears before he involuntarily opened his mouth and the contaminated fluid forced itself onto the polished wooden floor. It didn’t stop there, went through his nose and made him unable to breathe.

He didn’t need to breathe, but the thought made him panic. He choked, coughed against the thirium blocking his air ways.

He managed to get a few desperate gasps of air before the whole cycle started again and by the end of it he slipped against the wall, coughing and spitting thirium, uncaring of staining his clothing or the floor.

He only gasped for air, long deep breaths, desperate for the cool sensation in his burning system. He was aware of the tears that had sprung into his eyes, but he didn’t give a damn in the world. This was easily the most unpleasant experience he had ever had in his short life.

And he doubted it was over.

The bedroom door opening startled him, but he had no energy to move away from his spot. In the darkness he could barely make out what mess he had made, didn’t think he really wanted to see it anyway.

Hank flicked the lights on in the hallway, and whatever he had wanted to say got caught in a wave of “Holy shit…”, followed by a gentle but very concerned, “What do you need?”

Connor didn’t trust his voice. He was already way to relieved to be able to breathe and his whole body was shaking violently. His thirium levels were now nearing dangerously low numbers and if he lost any more, this would become a huge problem.

“Thirium…” He managed, voice barely above a whisper.

Hank nodded frantically as he stepped over the blue puddle that slowly seeped into the carpet of his bedroom as the wood in the hallway couldn’t soak it up. Connor wasn’t sure if he had ever been this glad about thirium evaporating after a while.

Hank returned with the Styrofoam box Connor had opened earlier and handed him the opened bottle.

Connor scanned it.

It was pure. Had the small percentage of contaminated thirium caused the purge? He had no idea. With shaking hands he grasped the bottle and lifted it.

“Careful.” Hank muttered. “Don’t drink it too fast, might gonna upset your stomach again.”

Connor wasn’t in the mood to correct Hank about the fact that he had no stomach, so he just took Hanks advice and carefully sipped the thirium. Things were looking okay for a few minutes and Hank had thrown all towels he could find into the mess on the floor, then handed him a change of clothing. Connor was grateful to get out of his wet clothing but struggled due to his weakened and shaking body.

Hank pulled the button up over his head, not bothering to unbutton it and used a clean edge of it to wipe his face. Connor didn’t bother to ask why.

The older man helped him into a dark T-shirt that was at least three sizes too big and handed him a pair of sweatpants.

Connor struggled out of his jeans and into the new pair of pants, for now only interested in the comfort the clothing gave him. He kept sitting in the hallway, a few inches away from the mess, but unmoving. His head rested against the cool wall behind him as he breathed deeply and closed his eyes.

The bottle of thirium stood beside him and Hank watched him cautiously, eyes trained on any of his movements.

“Was this a one-time deal or do I need to call someone?”

Connor checked his internal clock and opened his eyes to look at his friend. “If nothing happens by seven, it should be okay.”

“That’s in one and  a half hour.”

He nodded. “It should be enough time for the new thirium to cycle through a few times…” Connor explained silently as he sluggishly lifted the open bottle again and took another sip.

Hank shook his head with a scoff and continued to clean the hallway. “Thank hell this doesn’t stink.”

Connor wasn’t sure what he was supposed to think about that, but he was glad Hank was talking. It took his mind of what had just happened.

“I’m gonna throw this in the washer. Be back in a minute.” Hank  muttered and stood with an armful of towels.

Connor watched as he headed into the bathroom, intentionally leaving the door open so Connor could see him. He as grateful for it.

“Didn’t know you could puke, honestly.” Hank yawned as he returned with a soft blanket and put it over Connors shoulders.

“It is a safety mechanism to expel contaminated thirium quickly and effectively.” Connor explained silently.

His system flagged up a warning the same moment, telling him about the contaminated supply. It was impossible, but he hoped it would go away on its own. He could last until seven. Didn’t need any technicians prodding around him this early in the morning. Especially not after such a night.

“I guess that makes sense.” Hank scoffed. “You wanna sit on the floor all morning?”

Connor had no energy to care about his position. He wanted to power down and rest. But the warning popped up again.

“For now.” His breath hitched against the returning pressure in his chest. He already dreaded what would undoubtedly happen in the next few minutes. His breathing picked up again and his face twisted as he gripped the t-shirt tightly at his chest. A wheezing breath escaped him, and Hank cursed loudly as he barged into the bathroom and returned with a bright green plastic bucket. He had managed to shove it between Connors legs just in time before the android hurled whatever he still had in his system into the bucket, mimicking the sounds Hank had heard just before he had left his bedroom.

Something about the whole situation felt awfully familiar to him. Connors choking breath, the panicked whimpers, the desperate gasps for air and the fluid dripping from his mouth and nose. This didn’t look like an android purging his systems. This looked like a human with a stomach bug.

Hank was grateful it didn’t stink. He wasn’t sure if he could have handled that on top of everything.

Connor was shaking violently at this point, grip on the bucket weakening with each violent heave. He seemed to barely catch enough air between the horrible choking and coughing sounds.

Slowly Hank rubbed a hand over Connors back and grimaced at the unusual heat radiating from him.

“Are you overheating?” Hank asked bluntly when Connor slowly sat back against the wall again and Hank grimaced at the bucket. There wasn’t much in it, but the contents literally being what Connor needed to live terrified him a bit.

“My system temperature is alleviated due to the stress this is causing…” Connor whispered breathlessly. “The respiration is used to cool the systems, but I am unable to _breathe_ sufficiently because of this…”

Hank was sure that Connor would be sweating profusely now if he had been able to. “Fuck this…” Hank hissed and headed into the bedroom to get his phone. “Thirium levels?”

“At 43%...” Connor almost whispered.

“Lower than 40 is dangerous, right?”

“Yes.” The android sighed and closed his eyes again.

Hank snarled when he returned and crouched down next to Connor. “Here’s what we do,” He started. “You keep drinking that stuff-“ He held up a finger when Connor wanted to protest. “Keep drinking it, I don’t want you to puke yourself to death, okay?”

Connor nodded weakly and looked at his partner.

“Good. I’m gonna call Cindy and tell her to come over to take a look at you.”

Hank slowly stood again, complained about his protesting knees and headed back into the bathroom, phone wedged between his shoulder and ear.

Connor tuned out the conversation and focused on his system status. Despite feeling incredibly cold he pulled the blanket away from him and off to the side, then he grasped the bottle of thirium and glared at it. He knew Thirium burned easily but trying to set it alight with his gaze was impossible. That didn’t mean he didn’t try for about a minute until he gave up and carefully sipped the rest of the bottle. He knew it would just come back up again, but he needed it.

He couldn’t scare Hank with entering dangerous thirium levels.

As if on cue the man returned, this time with two wet towels. “Yeah, trying that now.” He spoke into the phone. “Told him to keep drinking it… good.” He looked relieved.

Connor had no energy to tap into his phone to listen in.

Hank laughed silently when he crouched back down and gently placed one of the wet and cold towels over Connors shoulders. He used the other to clean his blue stained face and set it aside on the floor.

 “I’ve seen worse. Flu season with a four-year-old was way more disgusting than this.”

Connor assumed he was talking about Cole.

“You drive carefully, Jesus Christ! I know you need an hour to get here, but you’re not here faster if you get in a crash you fucking dimwit.”

Despite all the stress, Connor felt a smile creeping onto his face. Cindy was on her way. She would know how to solve this.

“Listen, is there anything else I can do? Anything I can give to him so this stops?”

Connor tried hard to hear her reply but wasn’t successful in his efforts.

“I can do that?” Hank asked then with a surprised raise of his eyebrows. “Doubt any of this is not expired though…” he shrugged.

Connor sipped the rest of the contents in the bottle and Hank handed him the next without a word as he said goodbye to Cindy and places his phone off to the side.

“She’ll be here in a bit. Want to move this to the couch?”

Connor shook his head. “I’d rather not move right now…”

Hank nodded and got up anyway. “Okay but I will get some coffee and a damn cushion, that floor is uncomfortable as fuck!”

When Hank arrived in the kitchen he sighed deeply. Despite all the worry, it was easy to fall into routine. It wasn’t much different than when Cole was sick, although this was quite different in other regards.

He had just filled his mug when he heard a soft thud in the hallway. When he returned Connor was on his side, head rested on the blanket and  looked up at Hank as the man appeared in his field of vision.

“You okay?” Hank asked as he shoved  the bucket aside and knelt down next to him.

“My systems are severely taxed by the recent events. I believe a human would call this exhaustion.” The android muttered silently.

Hank smiled and ran a rand through his friend’s hair. “You really wanna sleep on the floor?”

“No, but I don’t trust my legs at the moment.” Connor sounded irritated, and for some reason it amused Hank.

“Figures, but this looks hella uncomfortable.” Hank protested. “What’s your system saying?”

“Thirium levels at 56%, temperature lowering… I just dismissed another warning about the contaminated thirium supply… this isn’t over yet.” The android made a sound that sounded so close to an annoyed groan that he chuckled silently.

“I don’t see what’s funny about this, Hank.” Connor sighed.

Hank shook his head. “I’m not making fun of you.” He explained. “You’ll understand it someday.”

Connor raised an eyebrow at him but didn’t say anything more.

“Let’s say I’ll help you to the couch, then I call you in sick for the day and we watch a movie?”

“It’s a malfunction-“

Hank exaggerated a deep sigh and threw his arms up in the air. “You pick the movie.”

Connor sighed and slowly sat up. Hank helped him to his feet and the walked a few steps. Connor almost dared to hope that things were actually returning to normal, when his system attempted another purge. This time he forced an override that would last approximately ten seconds before the purge was initiated again. He could attempt to keep it up until Cindy arrived, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to due to his strained systems.

Instead he stopped and shook his head to get Hank’s attention. “What, you gonna puke again?” The older man asked, concern back in his voice.

“I overrode the purge, but I can’t do it again-“

Hank cursed and instead dragged the android into the bathroom. He lowered him to the floor just in time before he heaved into the toilet, fingers clutching at the freshly cleaned porcelain. Hank settled down on the edge of the bathtub and gently resumed rubbing his friend’s back.

It was the same as before, but Hank could see that it was taking a toll on the android. This heaving seemed to last longer than the previous two times, even when Hank had no way of telling if that was true or not.

When Connor dipped to the side and into Hanks legs the older man firmly gripped his shoulders to keep him upright.

“Really wish I could give you something against this, kid…” Hank sighed and ruffled his hair. “But all I have is baby medication that’s probably expired years ago, and Cindy said it wouldn’t help anyway.”

“Thank you, anyway…” Connor whispered and leaned all the way into Hanks legs and closed his eyes again. “This is highly unpleasant, and I apologize for waking you.”

Hank scoffed. “You think I’d be happy over finding you dead in your own blood when I go make coffee?”

A small noise  that could have ben a soft laugh, reached Hank’s ears. “Hank, I would get it myself but…”

Hank nodded and carefully got up to walk into the hallway and get the remaining three bottles of thirium.  Sumo then decided to finally see what was going on so early in the morning and followed Hank into the bathroom.

Connor was leaning against the cool bathtub, eyes closed, almost slumped into a ball, LED a glaring red. He was breathing deeply to cool his systems and Hank gently pushed the closed bottle of thirium into his hands.

“How long can you last without filling it up?” The older man asked then.

Connor weakly curled his finger around the bottle and screwed off the lid. “I can up it to 40% and hope it stays where it belongs… but if it doesn’t and another purge happens, this will become dangerous.”

Hank snarled in annoyance. “Fuck.”

“Fuck indeed…” The android sighed and raised the bottle to his lips.

 


	2. The boy goes down in flames...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whelp. decided to split the second chapter because there is too much other stuff happening  
> Have fun with this~
> 
> Do comment, i live on comments, they are my lifesource. xD

When Connor placed the bottle back on the tiled floor Hank was at a loss at what to do. He had already done all he could and yet it didn’t seem to be enough. Connor wasn’t any better. If anything it was worse now.

“You look awful, kid.” He sighed eventually.

Connor hadn’t moved from his position, still leaned against the tub, unmoving. He scoffed at Hank’s remark and slowly opened his eyes. Sumo was sitting next to Hank, head tilted as if confused to what was happening. The android wasn’t sure if the dog would sense his discomfort like animals could with humans.

Sumo sniffed at the blue drips on the tiles, and quickly became interested in something else and left the room. Hank sighed when he flushed the toilet and handed Connor another towel.

Connor slowly turned to face Hank, face twisted in something that Hank could only identify as fear.

“What’s up?”

The android pressed his eyes shut for a second, let go of a huffed breath. Hank was already moving out of the way in case Connor lunged at the toilet again, but this time he didn’t seem to have the strength to move at all when the violent heave shook his body. The thirium spilled over his lips, down his chin and dripped into the freshly changed clothing.

His body jerked weakly, but he didn’t move otherwise, and Hank was beginning to grow quite concerned. While it had been worrying before, now it seemed a lot more urgent than it had before.

Connor suddenly surged forward and forced more of the blue liquid onto the tiles.

“Shit, kid…” Hank ran his hand over his friend’s back and held him up with the other as the android continued to cough violently.

Connor gripped the arm that was holding him and took in a few shaking breaths. He didn’t say anything, but visibly relaxed.

He looked absolutely horrible, his skin shimmering a milky white, making him look extremely pale. “I apologize-”

Hank shook his head when his friend faced him again and resumed his position against the bathtub. “It’s fine.” The Lieutenant shook his head and ran a hand through Connors hair.

The android smiled without any emotion and reached for the Thirium bottle again. At this point he didn’t care anymore if it would just come up again, he needed this desperately.

“How low?” Hank asked him after a few sips.

“It’s down to 34%. If it lowers any further my systems will start attempting to enter low power mode…”

“Great to know that.” Hank sighed and wondered how long it still was until Cindy arrived. “I’m getting you to the couch now, okay?”

Connor just nodded, didn’t even protest when Hank lifted him off the ground like a child and carried him into the living room, to the couch where the whole ordeal had started. Once he was lowered to the soft cushions he felt himself relax. Up until now he hadn’t even been aware of how uncomfortable he felt, apart form the discomfort and panic that burdened his system with unnecessary stress.

Hank helped him out of the stained clothing and into another dark t-shirt, not bothering with pants this time. Connor didn’t care. His vision was still swarming with errors and he was getting scared. There wasn’t anything else they could do, and he felt utterly helpless. Why had people designed Androids in such a way? Why wasn’t there any help?

Hank forced him to lie down on his side, positioned his legs in what Connor recognized as the recovery position. He wasn’t sure why, but assumed it was Hanks own force of habit. He had been with he police for so long, most of his first aid was probably automatic by now.

The man disappeared for a few seconds, then returned with the thirium bottles and his phone. Connor could see that speaker mode was enabled and the phone was calling Cindy.

“Hank?” The woman’s voice sounded after a few seconds. “Everything okay?”

“No. It’s not stopping.”

“Shit…” the woman cursed. “What’s the thirium level?”

Hank snarled and put a hand on Connors shoulder in attempts to soothe. “Thirty-four?” He hissed looked at Connor who nodded weakly.

The woman growled. “Damn it! I have a few bags in the car, but you have to try to keep it above 40% until I’m there, okay?”

“What do you think we’ve been trying for the past hour?!” Hank shouted at his phone, grimaced when Connor flinched at his sudden outburst.

“Okay, okay. Calm down. How many spares do you have left?”

“Two bottles and a rest in the third.”

“Okay. Give him all of it.”

Hank eyes his phone in disbelief. “I don’t that’s a good idea.”

“It isn’t, but it’s all we can do now until I’m there.”

Hank snarled and ended the call, then tried to look apologetic when Connor sluggishly sat up again. His arms were shaking against the effort, as if unable to hold him up. The lieutenant cleared the coffee table and sat down on it, to be in front of his partner.

“This isn’t going to be pleasant…” Connor hissed silently, voice filled with horrible static.

A cold shiver raced down Hanks spine and he handed Connor the almost empty bottle. The android downed the rest of it quickly and was already handed the next when he carelessly let the empty bottle fall onto the carpet.

His hands didn’t have the strength anymore to lift the full bottle and Hank had to help him hold it up to his lips as drank the liquid. He was halfway through it when Connor suddenly pushed it away. Hank hastily set the bottle onto the table and held his friend upright as, yet again what they had put in came up and splattered onto the carpet. Connor whined both in discomfort and annoyance.

He didn’t want to do this anymore. It was so senseless and wasteful. Why wouldn’t it stay down? None of this was contaminated, it was all pure, freshly purchased just a few weeks ago. Tears of frustration had mixed into the thirium staining his skin and Hank kept his firm grip on him, unwilling to let go.

“We’ll get you through this.” Hank reassured silently, hugging him a little tighter.

When Connor didn’t react to his words Hank lifted him up a but to see his eyes. Half lidded eyes needed way too long to focus on him and Hank carefully lowered him back onto the couch, feeling for a pulse before he stopped himself.

“Do you even have a pulse?” He heard himself asking and immediately felt ridiculous.

Connor frowned at him, then nodded after long agonizing seconds.

“Don’t pass out on me, kid.” Hank warned, but his words betrayed his concern.

The android was barely reacting at this point. Hank grabbed the pillow and tossed it off the couch, then lowered him back onto his side. The sickly pale shade of his skin had gotten even more intense. It was almost white now. He was shaking, heart racing. Hank could feel it hammering with the hand he had on Connor’s back. 

His breathing had picked up, now shallow and almost frantic in desperate attempts to cool his systems.

“I’m getting another we towel, okay? I’ll be back in a minute.” Hank muttered and rushed into the bathroom to wet another towel with cold water.

He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror, clothing stained with thirium, eyes tired and hair an absolute mess. He didn’t care.

When he returned Connor was on his back, long legs bent. It looked so human Hank almost forgot that the young man on his couch was an android.

“You okay?” The older man put the towel on Connors forehead and settled back down on the table. He’d clean the mess once Connor was better. If the stuff hadn’t evaporated by then.

“No...” The android whispered. “I’m… I’m not okay…”

Admitting it seemed to do something, and Hank watched in sympathy as tears dripped into the upholstery of the couch. He settled on the edge of the furniture and took Connors hand with one of his and grimaced as he pulled Connor upright again and stuffed the pillow behind him to keep him up.

“Come on kid, you look like you’ll pass out any second.”

Hank handed him the opened bottle and gripped it tightly as Connors hands slipped from the transparent plastic. He made another weak attempt to grab it, but this time Hank settled down next to his shoulders and held his head with one hand.

Carefully he tipped the bottle, letting the android swallow what was slowly passing his tongue. Doing it that way was working rather well, and Hank slowly pulled the bottle away after a moment, watching the LED of his friend spin into yellow.

“You good?”

Connor nodded, and Hank returned the bottle to his lips, letting the android lean against him as he ran his thumb over Connors cheek. When he settled the bottle down again and closed it Connor didn’t look significantly better. He was still pale, his skin flickering in sickly shades.

He leaned against Hank, back of his head rested on the older man’s shoulder.

Hank let him stay like that for a moment, watched him take slow  and deep breaths. He was still shaking, LED still yellow. At least it wasn’t red anymore.

Hank wondered about what to say. There wasn’t much they could have done. Hank knew too little about androids to help sufficiently and he wanted to hit himself for that.

“…Where’d you put your manual?” Hank asked then and frowned when he received no response.

Connor’s LED was back to red, but since it had been almost the whole time, Hank was only slightly concerned. What bothered him was something else.

The android wasn’t breathing. While that in itself wasn’t anything to be concerned about, the fact that he had been breathing the whole time to cool his systems and now suddenly stopped without warning, scared Hank quite a bit. The android looked at him with wide eyes, mouth half hanging open and a sudden jerk going through his body as his eyes rolled back.

“Jesus fucking Christ!” Hank shouted as he stood and pulled the android back down to lie on his side.

Seconds later his socks were covered in thirium and Connor almost fell off the sofa. He pushed the android back up, winced at the heat radiating through him, his racing heart, the now resumed but very shallow breathing and he called Cindy again.

“Hank I’m there in ten minutes.” The young woman muttered.

“It’s not working.” He growled as Connor coughed up more thirium onto the carpet. He wasn’t even moving with it anymore, it just dripped out of his mouth into the puddle that wasn’t soaked up immediately.

The woman cursed, undoubtedly hearing what was going on now. “Is he overheating?”

“Yes.” Connor croaked towards the phone between heaves.

“Damn this is bad…” The woman hissed.

“Oh, really?” Hank snarled back at her.

The android was leaning weakly against Hank’s grip, focusing on cooling his system.

“Do you have a shutdown time displayed?”

“Not yet…”

“Good. That’s good. Thirium levels?”

“Twenty-three…”

“Holy shit how are you still conscious…” She seemed to mutter to herself. “Have you tried a reboot?”

Hank lifted an eyebrow. “I cannot reboot my system without consequences…”

Cindy snarled. “Damn RK’s… Okay, I’m almost there. Can you enter low power mode by yourself?”

“Yes…”

“Good. Any damaged biocomponents?”

“Not yet…”

 “I want you to enter low power mode now. I think I know what the issue is. I’ll be able to fix it.”

Connor only nodded when Hank’s phone went dark.

“Low power mode, what does that mean?” The man asked in confusion.

Connor struggled to lie down on the couch, almost unable to move by himself now. “It means suspension of all unnecessary systems… ….I don’t like to do this, but I have no choice…”

“Unnecessary systems meaning?”

“I won’t be able to see, hear, speak, move or breathe…” Hank wasn’t sure if he winced more at Connors glitching voice or what he was saying. “Minor biocomponents will also shut down to ensure the thirium pump keeps functioning…”

Hank nodded. “Okay, you go do that now.”

Connor grimaced and made a weak attempt to grasp Hanks shirt but was unable to. Hank caught the movement and grabbed both of the android’s hands and held them tightly. “Do not attempt to rouse me out of this state… it could cause more damage…”

“Got it.” Hank muttered, suddenly unsure about it. But Connor seemed to know what he was doing, so he forced himself to stay calm.

He watched as Connor slowly shut down his systems one by one and the flickering red LED finally spun into yellow and was flashing slowly when his hands went limp.

His eyes were glued to his friend’s face, watching for any reaction, waiting but nothing happening. Only the LED told him that Connor was still alive.

Now that things were more or less calm, Hank realized how much of a toll the whole ordeal had taken on him. He had a splitting headache and his hands were shaking. On top of that the whole living room was a mess of splattered blue, and Hank eyed the remaining bottle of thirium with wary eyes.


	3. Oh Why - why should I worry?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it is done!  
> I want to apologize for the weird formatting of this chapter, something went haywire when i moved the word file from my netbook to my computer. Oops. D:
> 
> THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT, FOR ALL THE KUDOS AND COMMENTS AND BOOKMARKS, HOLY SHIT!
> 
> I want to thank every single one of you for reading it and for showing me that, despite me thinking it is utter crap, it was well received by everyone else.  
> THANK YOU!!!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this fanfic, and as always I would love to hear Feedback, Comments and things i could do better. You guys are awesome!!!
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A soft knock on the front door made Hank get up slowly, making sure not to disturb his friend. A young, rather short and quirky looking woman with red hair greeted him after he opened the door.  Cindy spent no time with unnecessary words when Hank gestured to the couch and dragged a medium sized aluminum suitcase inside. Hank resisted the urge to help her with it. She was hauling that thing around the station frequently and even her partner was never allowed to touch it.

It was decorated with all kinds of android support stickers, seemingly getting more every time Hank saw it.

It also had a big blue circle on and LED panel of the lid, indicating that cybernetic equipment was inside of it. Bold white letters told him that Cindy Steward was a licensed cybernetic technician and officially registered to work as one since 2028.

Hank knew she was a former Cyberlife employee and worked officially for the cybernetic division of the DPD since October 2037. She had always been treated the androids as if they were people, even long before Deviants became widely known.

Hank trusted her with Connor. She was kind, gentle and reassuring. She always explained what she did and kept her cool façade even when things looked grim. There was always a snarky remark or a dry quip on her lips, nothing could shake her.

Not even Connor frequent near-death experiences.

“God what a mess…” She complained as she pushed the coffee table out of the way and could see the blue puddles on the floor. Hank turned the lights on and pulled one of the kitchen chairs close to sit down.

She lowered herself to her knees and dug through her heavily padded suitcase filled with all kinds of tools and a few bags of thirium. Hank assumed it had more than one layer underneath what he could see. It made sense for something this big. Not that he had ever seen more than what had been displayed to him right now.

“How long has this been going on for?” Cindy asked as she turned Connor’s head to the side and inserted a cable into his neck. She connected it to her laptop and turned to look at Hank.

“No idea, but he started hurling about 2 hours ago.” Hank answered silently, eyes trained on his partner.  “Complained about contaminated thirium…”

The woman nodded and took a cable out of a small case hidden in the padding of the suitcase. Hank watched as she connected it to Connors LED and slotted it into the laptop as well. She eyes the screen over her laptop for a moment, then grimaced and dug into the suitcase once more.

A third cable was revealed, but this looked different. It was thicker, apparently insulated and hollow.

“His heartbeat is completely off the charts…” she muttered as she gazed at her laptop again. “Temperature close to critical, thirium levels already critical…”

While she muttered to herself Hank slowly got up again to let Sumo into the yard and finally drink that coffee. There was nothing he could do, and he hated it.

“He couldn’t keep any of it down.” He muttered when he settled back on the chair and forced back tears. It had been horrible to see his friend suffer like this while he was unable to help him in any way. His shaking hands nursed his mug as he settled back down on the chair.

“So you know why it happened?”

“A glitch.” Cindy reassured him. “A malfunction where his system flags everything that goes in as contaminated and needs it expelled, even at the risk of killing him.” She explained as she typed into her laptop.

Connor’s LED instantly turned from the glaring red into a dull yellow. Hank had never seen the yellow in this shade.

“Can you fix it?”

“Yes, but I have to get his thirium levels up, so hold this.”  She muttered and handed him the long cable she had been holding.

“What is this?”

“IV.” She quickly said and took the other end of the cable. “But this works differently than with humans, so you just sit back and watch the show.”

Hank grimaced as she and attached a bag of thirium to it and turned Connor’s head. She tipped his head back and took the end Hank was holding before she slowly pushed the tube down Connor’s throat. When she hung it from the chair Hank was sitting on the Lieutenant relaxed a bit.

Connor jolted when she taped the cable to his face to make sure it stayed where it was supposed to be. His hands went up to grab at it and she quickly caught them and placed them back down. He tried it two more times, then he seemed to understand and gave up, but not with a disgruntled sound that Hank interpreted as annoyance at that foreign object in his throat.

“I know, honey…” Cindy muttered and rubbed her thumb over his cheek for a second. “I’ll take it out as soon as I can.”

The android flinched, hands weakly trying to curl into the couch and Hank leaned forward to grab the hand closest to him. The hand was warm, fingertips a shiny white and they gripped Hanks hand with all strength they could muster.

“I’m here.” Hank muttered, unsure if Connor could hear him, but Cindy had spoken to him and he seemed to understand. It was worth a try.

“We’ll get you back in shape, okay?” He muttered and fought the lump in his throat when Connor nodded weakly.

Hank hated this feeling of uselessness, of guilt. And yet there was nothing he could have done. He winced when Connor jolted, and a weak choking sound echoed through the room. Hank immediately glared at Cindy who held up her hands defensively.

“He’s trying to breathe to cool his system.” She explained and adjusted the position of the android. “This is as much fun to him as it is for us, trust me.”

Hank scoffed and took a sip of his coffee. “So why isn’t he hurling the stuff up now?” he wondered after a moment.

Cindy put a hand on Connors shoulder as he tried to move his arms. “Don’t move, hon.” She said quietly. “I know this is isn’t fun. But that has to stay in there until your thirium supply is at least at 40%, okay?”

He nodded, but the tension didn’t go away. The woman brushed a hand through his hair and turned to Hank to answer his question.

“I put him into safe mode. All his system precautions are disabled, like automatic shutdown for overheating, that thirium purge, and certain sensor arrays. Since the thirium I’m giving him is pure, and I have his temperature right here,” She tapped onto the screen, “I can act if anything happens. Don’t worry Hank, I got him.”

Hank nodded his thanks and got her a cup of coffee too.  Things finally seemed to settle down again, but Hank didn’t dare to hope yet. He got up and let Sumo back in, filled up his bowl and decided to clean the hallway and bathroom. There was nothing else he could do anyway.

Hearing Cindy mumble to herself and speak to Connor in such a calming and reassuring way made Hank feel like someone had punched him. He couldn’t do anything for him. He knew nothing about androids. Everything he had learned was from the various times Connor broke down. It wasn’t a rare occurrence. Even when Connor always warned him in time that something was wrong, it turned into a race for life way too often.

This morning was just icing on the nasty cake.

As he threw the blue stained towels into the washing machine and put the green bucket into the bathtub to wash it out, he settled down into the ground for a moment. There were stains of blue everywhere. The tub, toilet, floor, sink… even the shower curtain. It looked like a massacre. It looked like Jericho had after the infiltration.

It looked like Connor did the one time he died in Hanks arms.

He took a deep breath and wiped his sleeve over his eyes as he continued to clean the bathroom. The kid would be fine. Cindy would help him. But that didn’t change the fact that Hank had been utterly useless.

What could he have done? He knew too little. Could this have been prevented though?

Once the bucket was clean and the thirium diluted and vanished down the drain Hank shook his head and left the room. He went to the bedroom to dress himself and then returned to the living room to get his Phone.

There hadn’t been any change in the situation. Cindy was still typing into her laptop, still doing things Hank couldn’t even begin to grasp.  But Connor lying there covered in blue, cables and tubes inserted into him, tore at Hank. This wasn’t fair. Connor hadn’t done anything to deserve this.

A human being would probably have been dead after losing so much blood.

“It’s okay, Hank.” Cindy’s soft voice startled him. He hadn’t realized he was staring.

“You could get me a bag of ice. And maybe another cup of coffee.” She smiled.

Hank moved automatically. Sumo whined at him and Hank gazes across his shoulder to look at the Dogs bowl. They were both filled. The cold and wet nose of the dog nudged his hand and he gently rubbed his head.

“You’re a good boy.” He praised Sumo, took a bag of ice out of the freezer and made Cindy another cup of coffee.

When he handed both items to her he watched in bemusement as she placed the bag of ice under Connors head.

“Just to cool him down a little and take stress off his system.” She explained to Hank.

She then leaned back to her laptop, nodded to herself and turned to face Connor. “Thirium levels at 44%. I will take this out now, this is unpleasant, and it might make you gag.” Cindy explained.

Hank noticed that Connor did look significantly better now. The milky white shade was gone, and his skin looked almost back to normal, even if it was still rather pale. His eyes were closed, LED still a dull yellow.

His hair was an absolute mess.

Hank couldn’t remember a time where his hair had looked messed up. It was always sleek and perfect, always neatly combed, and that one rebellious strand always hanging off to the side. It was the first time Hank saw it tousled and tangled and it pulled at him.

When Cindy slowly and carefully pulled the hollow tube out of Connor, Hank grimaced and turned away. He noticed the android jolt and gasp for air and winced when the android struggled to breathe. Distressed wheezes pierced his ears, and Connor struggled to move away from Cindy.

“Don’t move.” She said calm but firm and pressed her small hands down on his shoulders.

His breath came in wet and shallow gasps, insufficient and not getting enough air into his lungs. Her words seemed to hit deaf ears. “Connor, you’ll only hurt yourself, let me finish!”

He threw his head to the side, ripped the cable out of his LED and a whimper echoed through the room. Cindy cursed loudly and was pushed away by Hank who braced his elbows on Connors shoulders and held his head firmly in place. She made quick work of what she started, removed the tube from the android and set it aside.

Connor continued to struggle for air, body arching as he tried to free himself from Hanks strong grip. Hank wasn’t putting much pressure on him, just enough to keep him from moving. Usually that would have never been enough to keep him restrained, but his system was so stressed that he couldn’t muster the strength for anything 

“Breathe.” Hank ordered in a calming voice. “It’s out, you can breathe.”

But the android showed no signs of calming down. He shook his head violently and continued to cough and gasp even after Hank had released him and pulled him back to his side. Connors slim hands clawed at his throat and Cindy snarled loudly as she slotted the cable back into his LED. 

“Is he choking?” Hank asked then and felt utterly stupid. But even when androids didn’t need to breathe, Connor had always showed signs of distress when he was unable to do so.

“My guess is yes.” Cindy sighed. “Connor, shut down your respiratory system.” She ordered, but that was also ignored.

Hank growled in frustration, pull the android up so he was sitting and struck his back hard. The reaction was instant, Connor lunged forward and a small amount of thirium landed on the floor. Hank already braced himself for more. He had seen this too often in the past two hours to not expect it, but nothing came.

Instead Connor just took a few frantic breaths before he slowly started to calm down, uncaring about the few drips of thirium leaving his mouth, mixing with artificial saliva and tears.

“Holy shit…” Cindy whispered and carefully looked at the data of her laptop. “You’re okay.” She muttered. “System heat is down, thirium levels at 42%. Stay calm.”

Connor only nodded, shivered weakly in Hanks grasp and forced himself to calm down. There was still thirium dripping from his lips in a thin trail, but for a moment none of them cared. The young detective slowly sat up, wiped at his mouth and leaned back against the cushions.

“You good?” Cindy asked him after a moment of silence.

“I think…so…” Connors voice was full of static, comprehensible but held nothing of his actual voice or intonation. It was like a robot voice from the early eighties.

Hank resisted the urge to shiver and sat down next to his partner to offer a calming hug. Connor didn’t even look at him when he sunk into Hanks chest and made himself as small as he could. The older man wrapped his arms around him and held him tightly.

Cindy smiled at them, encouragingly patted Connor’s leg. “You probably damaged your voice-box by struggling like that.

His eyes snapped up at her, fear visible.

“I’m not scolding you, okay? You were scared, and I can completely understand why. But I gotta take a look at that.”

“Not now.” He hissed in her direction, obviously trying to whisper but unable to control his glitching voice.

“Tell you what, I help myself to another coffee and when I am done with that, I’ll take another look at you. Okay?”

He nodded. “Okay…”

She gave him a reassuring smile and nodded, then she stood, walked into the kitchen and helped herself to another cup of coffee. While she was at it she refilled Hank’s mug and brought it back to him.

“And you, my friend,” She smirked when she faced Connor, “Will drink that.” She handed him a bottle of Thirium that had been stashed in the suitcase, still perfectly sealed.

The stamp told him that it had been bought about an hour ago. She had gone out of her way for that, but he hesitated anyway.

“You’ll be fine.” Cindy reassured him. “I fixed the glitch. This is as pure as it gets.”

Carefully he reached for the bottle and took it from her grasp. Then he unscrewed it, effectively breaking the seal. Something about it felt so wrong, but he lifted it to his lips anyway and took a small sip.

He waited for several seconds, scanned the contents, but nothing came back as contaminated. It was pure, and his system was telling him that.

The relief he felt about it was almost overwhelming. Now he could finally refill his thirium supply and go on about his life.

“We won’t be at work in time…” the muttered towards Hank, still with his broken voice.

“I sent Fowler a text. It’s fine. You almost died, kid. Nobody expects you to work after that.”

Connor nodded. “I understand.”

Hank chuckled and ruffled his messed-up hair. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

“I am too. Thank you, Cindy.”

The woman grinned at them and shrugged. “That’s my job. But you’re welcome.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again!
> 
> The Fic title is from Three Days Grace's Infra-red.  
> Chapter titles are from the song End of the Story by The Rasmus.
> 
> two of my absolute favorite bands :3
> 
> Random fact about Cindy: shes married with two kids. Ryan (appears in AOC) is her brother.

**Author's Note:**

> Cindy is a recurring OC that has been in a bunch of my other fics. she's a technician, so she's kinda popping up a lot. haha.


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